Slowtwitch: A refuge from insult?
We are privileged to host the fine work of Callum Millward. Have you seen his video interviews? He's got a way of drawing out of his contemporaries in ways no other interviewer could. Pro athletes are a little fearful of a "Cupcakes with Callum” session while they queue up for them. That's the sign of a guy who knows what he's doing.
While they appear whimsical it's clear that Callum prepares for these interviews. He often uses a comedic device and western hat wearing Montana "cowgirl” Linsey Corbin faced off with Indian Callum Millward in an interview published here earlier this week. To my generation, growing up playing cowboys and Indians, this motif has always been harmless. How much more so to a New Zealander whose entre to North American culture is John Wayne, not the much less well-known history of North American conquest as observed today by descendents of indigenous North American inhabitants.
A harmless comedic device delivered can, in mid air, turn into an offense, depending on the recipient. It is my job, as Slowtwitch publisher, to grant editorial freedom to our contributors while taking care that our messages aren't unwitting insults. Are you, alone, insulted by what you, alone, consider a statement made in bad taste? Not my problem. Is an entire race insulted? My problem.
That we didn't mean it doesn't mean we didn't do it. In my judgment, in this case, Native Americans had a right to be offended.
Why is that video interview still up on Slowtwitch? Because I didn't see it until after it was live for about 2 hours, and had I then removed it from view our reader forum would have lit up with accusations that the Native Americans had pressured us to take it down – we would have offended Native North Americans twice. In point of fact, no Native asked me to remove that video. I held a number of interviews with American and Canadian Natives, and the majority view was to leave it up as part of the object lesson.
But we still needed to address this, so I began a discussion on our reader forum. Quite a few Native North Americans read Slowtwitch, as it turns out. Many contacted me privately and we had terrific discussions. If you look on this forum thread you'll see Callum Millward's response, which was a full-throated apology. I'm sometimes critical of the lack of professionalism of our professionals off the field of play. Not this guy.
Finally, the most strident views on both sides of this were offered up by non-Native Americans. "Get over it” might be an appropriate prescription when delivered case-by-case, but not when most of the cohort feels the insult. In my book, the majority doesn't get to decide when the minority should get over it.
Just as over-the-top are accusations of racism. Acts of murder cannot perpetrated by anyone but a murderer. Acts of racism cannot be perpetrated by anyone but a racist. Thoughtless, naïve, or ignorant statements or characterizations are insults, even if they are unintended. But, if a hallmark of racism is the belief that one's own race is superior, is that the case here? Clearly not.
My recent intersection with the American Indian community persuades me that they're dealing with this kind of thing regularly, because the responses I've gotten from Natives have been overwhelmingly measured, scaled to the offense, understanding, rational, nevertheless almost universal in the view that the motif in this video demeans, diminishes, degrades Indian culture. Native Americans I've interviewed also overwhelmingly agree no offense was meant. They seem to want to fix the problem, not the blame. It's notable how often the calls for reconciliation, rather than recompense, comes from the aggrieved parties.
Visitors should find Slowtwitch a refuge from, rather than a reflection of, the daily banality and indignities that are our unfortunate realities. In the present case we tried, but we failed. I apologize for this.
